Scottish Executive

Children with Disabilities

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to record centrally, in order to ensure the availability of reliable data on disabled children, all assessments of needs of children affected by disability carried out under section 23 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive, in partnership with the Association of Directors of Social Work, COSLA and the Accounts Commission, is currently undertaking a major review of information requirements for social work in Scotland.

  The first stage of the review undertaken by the Social Work Information Review Group was to specify a list of local and national information requirements. The number of assessments of children in need was identified as a national information requirement. A report of the group’s work was published on 25 August 2000 and is available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk. The second stage of the review, which is currently under way, will involve agreeing common definitions and standards to ensure that information can be collected on a consistent basis across all local authorities.

Enterprise

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Business Shops there are for each local enterprise company and where each one is located.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the Chairmen to write to the member. A copy of their replies will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Enterprise

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to close any existing Business Shops or to open new such facilities.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the Chairmen to write to the member. A copy of their replies will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Enterprise

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the funding arrangements for local Business Shops.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the Chairmen to write to the member. A copy of their replies will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make publicly available the Chief Veterinary Officer’s advice on the slaughter of sheep stocks, as referred to in the Ministerial Statement on the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak by the Minister for Rural Development on 15 March 2001.

Ross Finnie: I am satisfied that the slaughter of sheep stocks within infected areas is based on sound veterinary advice. This advice cannot be made publicly available as it contains certain information which if disclosed would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion between ministers and officials. The Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information provides an exemption in such circumstances.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific advice has been given by the Chief Veterinary Officer on why a distance of 3 km from infected premises was chosen as the area within which a slaughter of all sheep must be carried out, as set out in the Ministerial Statement on the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak by the Minister for Rural Development on 15 March 2001.

Ross Finnie: It is a European requirement to set up a 3 km protection zone around any infected farm. Within this radius there is a high risk of local disease spread.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific advice the Chief Veterinary Officer has given in relation to the airborne transmission of the current foot-and-mouth disease virus and whether it will make this advice publicly available, in particular that advice which relates to (a) the likelihood of airborne transmission, (b) whether any case of infection is believed to have been as a result of airborne transmission and (c) the maximum distance over which the virus can be transmitted by air.

Ross Finnie: Information from the Office International des Epizootics (OIE), the world organisation for animal health in Paris indicates that airborne spread of foot-and-mouth disease can be as much as 60 km overland and 300 km by sea. Those are maximum distances under favourable conditions. In practice the possibility of aerosol spread depends on a number of factors including number and species of the affected host animal and weather conditions (wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity). Aerosol spread overland is also subject to variation caused by land features which might disrupt the plume of virus.

  However, insofar as this particular strain of virus is concerned, initial studies based on observations made in other countries suggest that aerosol transmission from infected premises has not been a prominent feature. So far this would appear to be being borne out in this country, as the spread appears to be by direct contact particularly through sheep. The position obviously is being monitored very carefully as the outbreak continues.

Information Technology

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13038 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 16 February 2001, how much of the £30 million funding for information and communication technology local support centres will be received by Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The £30 million funding for ICT support announced in the UK White Paper on Business and Skills will not be allocated specifically to geographic regions, since it will focus on UK-wide marketing activities, web-based assistance and sector specific work. The local ICT support centres, including those in Scotland, will play a major role in the delivery of these activities.

Internet Services

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11872 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 22 February 2001, whether its commitment to achieve universal access to the web by 2005 refers to universal access from home.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is committed to achieving universal access to the web by 2005. It is technically possible now for anyone with a telephone line and a PC to purchase web access, but income and a range of other factors are currently affecting take-up by certain groups. We are therefore considering a range of options to achieve universal access which include both home-based access and community facilities.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12097 by Colin Boyd QC on 16 January 2001, how many reports relating to the illegal smuggling of tobacco were made to Procurators Fiscal by police, Customs and Excise or any body in each year since 1997.

Colin Boyd QC: Offences involving tobacco smuggling are investigated and reported by HM Customs and Excise. They are not separately recorded in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service system.

Legislation

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11646 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 January 2001, whether, in the course of concluding that it supports the view that it is not necessary to introduce legislation either to reform or restate the existing law on boundary walls, it took note of the statement at paragraph 2.14 of the Scottish Law Commission’s 1992 consultation paper on this issue that there was an element of confusion in this area of law and what other criteria it applied in arriving at this conclusion.

Mr Jim Wallace: The commission considered the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches before reaching the conclusion in its report that legislation was not required. The commission’s consultation paper and its report were considered in detail by the Scottish Executive which supports the final conclusions of the report.

Mental Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4838 by Peter Peacock on 14 March 2000, what projects have been supported in schools by the Health Education Board for Scotland to promote awareness of mental health issues amongst pupils and teachers.

Nicol Stephen: There are two projects currently supported by the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS). Rosie’s World  is   a resource pack which explores issues of mental well-being and is aimed at very young children. Confidence to Learn  is   a classroom guide for teachers to enable them to extend health education, which includes emotional health, in the primary school.

  HEBS are also closely involved with the Health Promoting Schools concept which covers all aspects of school life, curriculum, environment and relationships, in promoting the health and well-being of staff and pupils.

  In addition to work centred in schools, HEBS also leads an annual campaign, Scottish Mental Health Week. Last year’s campaign, from 9-16 October, was targeted at young people aged 12-16 and the two main strands were publication of Cool Heads/Stress Central for children/teenagers and funding of 17 small local projects which involve children and teenagers in addressing mental well-being issues.

Mental Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to assist people with mental health problems gain employment.

Malcolm Chisholm: Employment is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The New Deal is delivered in Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Executive and other Scottish organisations. The New Deal for Disabled People, which will be extended nationally from July 2001, will offer new opportunities for people with mental health problems.

  The Scottish Executive is committed to taking forward action in response to the Beattie Committee to improve the skills and employability of young people with additional support needs (including young people with mental health problems).

  The Executive is also funding a project run by the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health to examine ways in which people with mental health problems can be helped to return to and remain in employment.

Modernising Government

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12479 by Angus MacKay on 8 March 2001, when it will publish project plans and progress reports for the projects receiving funding from the Modernising Government Fund.

Angus MacKay: Funding arrangements for all of the Modernising Government Fund projects have been put in place and the first payments for those projects scheduled to commence in the current year were made before the end of March.

  The Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) for the projects are to submit appropriate plans containing deliverables and timescales for their projects. These should be in place before the end of April. The plans will then be published on the Scottish Executive’s 21st Century Government website.

  Procedures are also in place for monitoring the progress of each project and SROs are to provide quarterly reports to the Executive. These reports will be used to update the website.

Modernising Government

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11872 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 22 February 2001, when the results of the e-care project will be available.

Angus MacKay: The Aberdeenshire e-care project is one of a series of Modernising Government Fund (MGF) projects that will use information and communications technology (ICT) to support a multi agency strategy for improving community care.

  The e-care projects are being co-ordinated as part of a strategic programme of electronic health care overseen by the Scottish Executive.

  MGF projects are scheduled to run until March 2002. All of the projects will be monitored, with regular updates and results published on the Scottish Executive’s 21st Century Government website.

Nuclear Power

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had or plans to have any discussions with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions with regard to any environmental or health implications of the possible processing at Dounreay of Australian research reactor fuel on board the ship Le Bouguenais.

Ross Finnie: : No. I understand that no spent fuel from Australia is due to be received at Dounreay.

Poverty

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what indicators it currently uses to determine how many people in rural Scotland live in poverty.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive uses a number of measures of poverty which apply across Scotland. The Scottish Area Deprivation Index draws on indicators including overcrowding, lack of amenities, low birth weights, income support, claimant unemployment rate, no car households and children in non-earner households.

  As indicated in response to question S1O-2686, the identification of key indicators of rural poverty is amongst the aims of the Rural Poverty and Inclusion Working Group, which is due to report shortly. The Executive is also committed to developing the data available on poverty in Scotland, including the provision of small area data.

Road Accidents

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8563 by Sarah Boyack on 8 January 2001, what the accident rates were involving (i) fatalities and (ii) injuries on a per mile basis, differentiating between the M74 four and six-lane sections.

Sarah Boyack: Over the last three years there were 0.30 fatal accidents on a per mile basis and 5.10 serious and slight injury accidents on a per mile basis over the 20 miles of the four-lane section of the M74.

  Over the last three years there were 0.08 fatal accidents on a per mile basis and 3.73 serious and slight injury accidents on a per mile basis over the 64 miles of the six-lane section of the M74.

Road Signs

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cycleway and road signs are located within a 100 yard radius of the roundabout on the B7076 at Kirkburn Farm, Lockerbie.

Sarah Boyack: Both the roundabout and the B7076 in the vicinity of the roundabout are local roads for which Dumfries & Galloway Council are the local roads authority. Nevertheless, it is understood that the number of cycleway signs is in the order of 30 and the number of other road signs is in the order of 17.

Road Signs

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was, including installation, of the cycleway signs within 100 yards of the roundabout on the B7076 at Kirkburn Farm, Lockerbie.

Sarah Boyack: The installation of the cycleway signs was included in a package of work awarded under a lump sum form of contract ancillary to the M6 DBFO project. Consequently it is not possible to identify the contractor’s costs for individual elements of the package of work such as cycleway signs.

Road Signs

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cycleway signs there are on the cycle track adjacent to the B7076 between Gretna and Beattock Summit.

Sarah Boyack: The number of cycleway signs on the 61 km of cycleway and cycletrack between Kirkpatrick Fleming and Beattock where it is adjacent to the B7076 is in the order of 307.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it had any discussions with contractors after their submissions were made with regard to the trunk road networks contracts.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive communicated with all of the tenderers for each of the competitions to seek clarification of the bids after tenders were lodged.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it arrived at its decision to separate the maintenance of trunk roads from the maintenance of side roads.

Sarah Boyack: The decision to separate the maintenance of the trunk road network from the local road network was inherited by the Scottish Executive.

  The statutory provisions of the Trunk Roads Act 1936 drew the distinction between trunk roads and local roads.

  Up until 1996 management and maintenance of trunk roads were undertaken by local authorities on behalf of the then Secretary of State under the terms of Agency Agreements. Thereafter contracts were let for the management and maintenance of the Central Belt (Premium) network and the management of the remaining (All Purpose) rural network following a decision taken in 1995 by ministers in line with European Directives to seek competitive tenders on a contractual basis.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the formula used in the value for money appraisal of tender submissions for the trunk road network contracts.

Sarah Boyack: The tenders for the trunk road contracts stood to be evaluated on the basis of the "most economically advantageous bid". The pre-determined assessment procedure is set out in the "Instructions for Tendering". Specimen copies of the Instructions for Tendering have been lodged in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned an impact assessment on Direct Labour Organisation employment and the ability of local authorities to respond to emergency maintenance situations on roads, following the decision to separate the maintenance of side roads from trunk roads.

Sarah Boyack: The decision to seek trunk road maintenance through contract was taken in 1995. No assessment has been made of the impact on Direct Labour Organisation employment in the event that they are unsuccessful in any competition for the work or on their ability to respond to emergency maintenance situations. Under EC procurement rules, such considerations relevant to the particular situation of tenderers cannot be taken into account in the procurement process.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal costs it has incurred in relation to the tendering of the trunk road unit contracts.

Sarah Boyack: Legal costs associated with recent Court of Session proceedings were awarded against the petitioners.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-9148 by Sarah Boyack on 14 September 2000, how local authorities will meet the costs of redundancy payments and any other costs relating to the termination of employment to any local authority employees who lose their employment in the event that the trunk road unit contracts are awarded to private sector bidders if it does not make additional finance available for this purpose.

Sarah Boyack: Trunk road contracts lie outwith the functions of local government and are not catered for in the local government financial settlement. Local authorities have known since 1996 when the previous contracts were awarded that they could fail to secure the trunk road work. Some of the management work was lost in 1999. The contracts for the Operating Companies stood to be renewed in 2001. Agency agreements had been awarded without competition and could not therefore extend indefinitely.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes it plans to make to the process and procedures used to tender trunk road unit contracts in future.

Sarah Boyack: Procedures for future tendering rounds will take into account experience gained during the present process.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the trunk road unit contracts due to come into effect on 1 April 2001 require three months notice under EU tendering regulations.

Sarah Boyack: The tendering requirements for the trunk road unit contracts due to come into effect on 1 April 2001 are set out in the Public Works Contract Regulations 1991 which implemented the EC Works Directive (93/37/EEC). There is no requirement for such a three-month notice under these regulations.

Roads

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place between the Scottish Tourist Board, the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and Minister for Transport on the signage from trunk roads for golf facilities available to tourists.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish Executive officials are in regular contact with the Scottish Tourist Board on a number of issues. In addition, they attend meetings of the Tourism Signposting National Working Group, a forum of representatives of the Scottish Tourist Board and local authorities, which meets on a regular basis to discuss signposting matters.

Roads

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the invitation recently sent to private contractors concerning the secondment of road and engineering staff to its Road Network Management and Maintenance Division to local authorities.

Sarah Boyack: Secondments of road and engineering staff are secured on the basis of competition between competent providers, judged on the basis of quality and price. There is no reason why local authorities should not be invited to put forward bids for seconded staff and the Scottish Executive will explore this if further vacancies occur for road and engineering secondees. This is in line with the new Scottish Executive/COSLA partnership which makes provision for local authority secondments.

Student Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of collection of the graduate endowment, as currently proposed by it, in each of its first five years of operation.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: The Scottish Executive is currently considering the detail of the arrangements for collecting the Graduate Endowment. Those liable will be able to choose whether to take out an income contingent loan under the existing system or to pay by lump sum direct to the Executive. The costs likely to be involved in setting up these arrangements are currently under discussion with the Student Awards Agency for Scotland and the Student Loans Company. However, as the Executive’s plans will not require the establishment of any new machinery for tracking the income of graduates or affect the rates at which loan repayment will be collected from graduates, the costs associated with running the scheme are expected to be marginal.

Student Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Bill will include a separate, Scottish mechanism for collecting endowment payments from EU students who studied in Scotland.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: We expect that EU nationals will be treated in the same way as graduates who were domiciled in Scotland at the time they studied.

Student Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the interest collected on student endowment payments to the Inland Revenue (IR) will be included in the amount repaid to the Scottish Executive by the IR, or whether this extra revenue will remain with Her Majesty’s Treasury.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: Graduates who wish to take out an income contingent loan to discharge their liability for the Graduate Endowment will do so on the same terms and conditions as loans for living costs. The Inland Revenue pay quarterly in advance for collected student loans, based on an agreed projection for the year.

Student Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it means by "the income arising from the graduate endowment" in section 2 of the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill, and whether this includes the extra revenue that will arise from the collection of the endowment.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: Under section 2 of the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill, the income arising from the graduate endowment means the full amount payable by each liable graduate in the spring following the completion of their course. For those who start a degree in academic year 2001-02 the amount payable will be £2,000. Graduates may draw on the facility of the income-contingent student loan scheme to discharge this liability.